JOINT STATEMENT BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL AND THE CWU COVERING THE INVESTMENT IN ADDITIONAL MATERIALS HANDLING EQUIPMENT & VOLUMETRIC SCANNERS IN RDC’s
Dear Colleagues
Branches and representatives will be aware that Royal Mail and the CWU are working together in order to develop mutual interest solutions and factor into them opportunities to deliver on the core commitments contained in the Agenda for Growth, Stability and Long Term Success Agreement.
The key component of this activity is looking at where new products or innovations can be introduced that will help the business compete in the increasingly competitive and rapidly evolving environment.
Focused Royal Mail sales campaigns, i.e. selling improvements in our Latest Acceptance Times (LATs) for T24 & T48 and targeting medium sized parcels has seen a significant increase in Tracked Parcel volume growth during the 2015/16 financial year. This is especially evident within the Regional Distribution Centres (RDC’s) where the year on year volumes have increased by 41%. This growth is forecasted to continue into 2016/17.
The business have informed the department that given the volume growth to date, the anticipated future growth in Tracked parcels and the service specification, it is proposed to invest in additional MHS in RDC’s in order to efficiently process the growing volumes and increasing sizes of parcels that are being experienced.
The proposal for the RDC Investment Programme is as follows:
The plan is to invest in MHS solutions across 5 of the existing RDC’s, i.e:
• National Distribution Centre (2x)
• Yorkshire Distribution Centre (1x)
• Princess Royal Distribution Centre (1x)
• South West Distribution Centre (1x)
• North West Distribution Centre (1x)
In addition the plan is to invest in an upgrade of the existing MHS solution in NWDC and provide SWDC with an additional volumetric scanner.
This additional MHS would be able to handle parcels up to 1.2m and 20kg, and scanners would be able to read the new 2D barcodes.
Attached for the information of Branches and representatives is the Joint Statement that has been agreed to facilitate this activity.
Colleagues will note that it has been agreed that provision is made for full CWU involvement and that the activity will be overseen by the Parcel Automation Joint Working Group. Any revised duty arrangements required to accommodate this growth activity will be negotiated in line with the IR Framework.
In the view of the department the investment represents a significant commitment to our RDC Network and growth in the upstream areas of the business, which we believe will be welcomed by our members in RDC’s.
Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number: 231.07
Yours sincerely
Davie Robertson
Assistant Secretary
JOINT STATEMENT BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL AND THE CWU COVERING THE INVESTMENT IN ADDITIONAL MATERIALS HANDLING EQUIPMENT & VOLUMETRIC SCANNERS IN RDC’s
Background
Royal Mail (RM) and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are working together in developing key business policies, mutual interest solutions and a new culture, all of which are at the core of the commitments in the Agenda for Growth, Stability and Long Term Success Agreement.
Both parties recognise that creating the right joint working environment is paramount to the success of the business and the commitment to employment security in all operational functions of the business.
Both parties recognise the pressures of the increasingly competitive and rapidly evolving environment and are committed to the strategic objective of creating and developing an agenda for traffic, product and revenue retention & growth and defining a tangible competitive response as a positive alternative to simply managing decline across the RM operational network.
Introduction
During the 2015/16 financial year there has been a significant increase in Tracked Parcel volume growth. This growth has been especially evident within the Regional Distribution Centres (RDC’s) where the year on year volumes have increased by 41%.
This volume growth has been generated as a result of focussed Royal Mail sales campaigns, i.e. selling improvements in our Latest Acceptance Times (LATs) for T24 & T48 and targeting medium sized parcels.
This growth is forecasted to continue into 2016/17.
In addition to increased volumes the average size of parcels is also growing, which is resulting in more parcels being handled manually and hand scanned in the RDC’s. The Tracked Product specification also requires high volume tracked parcels via the RDC’s to be volumetrically scanned.
It has been 7 years since the existing Material Handling Solutions (MHS) were installed in the RDC’s. Given the volume growth to date, the anticipated future growth in Tracked parcels and the service specification it is proposed to invest in additional MHS in RDC’s.
RDC Investment Programme
The plan is to invest in MHS solutions across 5 of the existing RDCs, i.e:
• National Distribution Centre (2x),
• Yorkshire Distribution Centre (1x),
• Princess Royal Distribution Centre (1x),
• South West Distribution Centre (1x),
• North West Distribution Centre (1x).
In addition the plan is to invest in an upgrade of the existing MHS solution in NWDC and provide SWDC with an additional volumetric scanner.
This additional MHS would be able to handle parcels up to 1.2m and 20kg, and scanners would be able to read the new 2D barcodes.
This represents a significant investment in the RDC Network.
Deployment
Deployment will commence in May and is scheduled to be fully deployed by September 2016.
The activity will be overseen by the Parcel Automation Joint Working Group.
Operational Impact
The introduction of any revised duty/attendance arrangements will be negotiated at local level in line with the IR Framework.
Local discussions will take place prior to implementation and will take into account/focus on all possible concerns, risks or difficulties associated with this project. This will ensure any unforeseen employee concerns are also resolved as quickly as possible, local parties will also meet regularly to monitor and review deployment arrangements.
Timely negotiations will take place between local managers and CWU IR Representatives, and Engineering and H&S Reps will be fully involved in all aspects of the planning for and actual deployment of the required new arrangements.
CWU Representatives shall be given appropriate additional release to facilitate this and enable them to consult with members on the proposed change.
Any questions of interpretation, implementation, or application of this Joint Statement shall be referred to the respective Headquarters for resolution.
Davie RobertsonFrancis Williams
Assistant SecretaryHead of Parcel Design
CWURoyal Mail
Date: 10th May 2016
CWU Eastern No5 Branch 
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